Winged Object
This winged object from the butt end of a harpoon probably depicts a
tunghak spirit controller. Drilled holes may have contained black
plugs and seal hair; the groove is for insertion of a throwing board
hook. Visual puns in the form of hidden animals are a characteristic
feature of Eskimo art.

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Old Bering
Sea Harpoon

The weight of the ivory harpoon head, foreshaft, and socketpiece was
counterbalanced by an ivory "winged object". Winged objects
went out of style in Alaska about A.D. 1000, but comparable forms were
retained in Greenland into historic times.

In North Pacific cultures the linkage between subsistence practices
and religious ideology is particularly strong and is manifested in communal
hunting ceremonies, magical and ritual practices associated with hunting,
and in the artistry of hunting implements. Magic and artistry are particularly
evident in sea mammal hunting technology. All North Pacific groups believed
that hunting success was determined by the willingness of the animal
spirits to make themselves available to the hunter, rather than by luck
or hunting prowess. Clean and new clothing, the magic power of amulets
and plaques, and the beauty of carefully crafted hunting weapons all
served to please and attract the spirits of game animals. After the
hunt, elaborate rituals were performed to return the spirit of the animal
to its kindred.

Eskimo
weapons were sometimes given additional power by being ornamented with
the images of predatory animals or beasts, which served the hunter as
helping spirits. Early Bering Sea Eskimo harpoons were equipped with
winged object tailpieces carved with complex zoomorphic images in the
form of master controlling spirits known as Tunghat. Tunghat
livedin the moon, were part animal and part human, were
ferocious and powerful, and if displeased could punish man by withholding
animals from him. One of the many roles of a shaman was to intercede
with Tunghat on man's behalf.

In short, the serious sea mammal hunter's equipment was elegantly designed
and beautifully maintained as a sign of respect to his prey. These values,
as much as functional design, were fundamental to a hunter's success.
These practices had ancient origins and are especially noted in the
hunting technology and art of Old Bering Sea culture.